Red Hot Erotic Romance Writer

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Interesting how I went batshit crazy while writing and editing for a week and barely opened Twitter only to find I'd gained several new followers. Because I know how important Twitter is and an important tool I did still do my best to retweet people who were kind of enough to retweet me because that's what I do. If a fellow writer retweets me I will retweet them (BTW pinned posts are great if you want people to retweet you easily) any way I do this because it's the right thing to do HOWEVER if I don't here's why. Yes I tag my stuff EARTG for erotica which yes basically porn for most people, lots of shorts and reading one handed. Yet for me my writing is erotic romance, for me I have to be able to take away all the sex scenes and there still has to be a solid, heartfelt story or I don't write. That's the difference that I seem to be having a problem with on some people who follow or retweet me. I get it, it's hard and you want to do something to set yourself apart from others and do what you can to catch people's attention. But if you are tweeting pictures where tits and underbits are hanging out then no, I will not retweet you. If you are tweeting your cover or pictures with writing that talk about a pussy or cock or fucking then no I will not retweet you. There's a difference between sex and sexy and that line isn't the same for everyone, for me I don't think it's that hard to tell. But hey that's just me. I've included this in another post but maybe you haven't read it, fine. If you only tweet about yourself or your books or quotes then NO I will not follow you back because all you want is for me to retweet your stuff without you returning the favor. This isn't rocket science, it's pretty basic if you want followers and you want people to tweet you then tweet them back and if someone has been kind enough to tweet you and follow you then return the favor.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Everyone is freaking out over the changes to KU in payment, with good reason. Being paid less than a penny for a page of writing is going to be painful for a huge chunk of those currently in KU. The erotic short authors especially. Many authors throwing in their two cents point out the erotic shorts were already getting more than their 'fair' share because they were getting about 1.30 per read whereas people writing non-erotica were writing longer 'better' stories and still only getting 1.30 per read so the payout is just being evened out. Hmm...erotica let's be honest porn has always cost more-from magazines where Playboy costs $6.99 and People magazine costs $4.99 from DVDs $24.99-29.99 hardcore porn to latest Hollywood blockbuster $14.99 to $19.99 so what erotica writers were doing wasn't anything different than what every other form of media was doing.

While this is good to clear out those trying to game the system by being jerks putting out 'books' that were only a few pages of nonsense to get KU buyers to download open and get a dollar a pop for doing nothing. I also think it's good for those authors who cling to Amazon as if there was no other port in a storm to wake up and walk out into the fucking sun to see outside the walls of Amazon. People are whining 'KU is the only way I make money' I just don't believe that because I am not on KU and more than half of what I make comes from Nook and a quarter from Draft2Digital a distribution chain that pushes my books out to Apple, Scribd, Kobo, and Nook if I wanted. There's also All Romance-I have tried multiple times to put my books on it but I haven't been able to. So I'm saying if KU is the only place your books are selling it's because it's the only place you've tried-like anything it will take time to gain traction for sales and three months off KU isn't enough to get it. Don't go exclusive and if you're good and you remember this is no sprint, run the long race you'll find your buyers. Here's the thing to be be aware of for all erotic shorts writers, Smashwords-another distribution chain- (harder for me to work) and Nook let it all hang out. I knew that about Smashwords but in researching if you go onto Nook and want to post all the dungeon stuff Amazon won't let you, you can actually put it in the title of your books on Nook, daddy stuff (ick-no judgement) pseudo incest, lactation and all kinds of stuff Amazon presses the no button on. So to all those who say I can't make money writing hard core taboo erotica on other venues-that's a load of crap. Sure it isn't 70% but it's more than 1.30 the buyers will pay for the 2.99 some even have their's priced at 4.99 and while their sales are huge they look good. Amazon isn't the be all and end all. Blah, blah, blah Amazon is a company and a company is here to make money. So here it is you are self-publishing to make money so do it in all the ways you can. Does Doritos only sell only at Walmart because they are the largest grocery store? No, they sell at other grocery stores and they sell at the convenience store and Walgreens and even though they're chunk from Walmart might be fifty percent they're still getting checks from all the other places and in this business, right now literally every freaking penny counts. School yourself, peoples, no one is going to care about your success than you so act like it. If you are writing to make a quick buck in your spare time and are crying into your emptying penny bank Amazon used to fill then please move to the side so the people who do want and need to write can actually do their job. For years I wrote without actually believing it would be published because from the way most writers talked getting published, staying that way and making any money from it was as hard as finding an oasis in the desert. The way writers spoke in interviews they made it seem like try to do anything but become a writer and I get it. To write alone is painfully hard, to find the right words, to edit, to enjoy the flow when it's happening and to get it going when the flow stops. Writing is fucking hard, it is not a get rich quick scheme. Seriously, if you are happy as an accountant, a teacher or whatever 'real' job you have where you earn enough money to pay your bills and have good benefits then enjoy and don't feel like you have to write then for the love of your sanity-don't just don't do it. I'm not whining, I'm not exaggerating, I'm complaining. This isn't easy and if you think it is then you don't care enough about what you're doing to put out the absolute best product you can.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Maggie Pruitt can take care of herself, thank you very much. She
doesn’t need the drool-worthy ER doctor carrying her away from her problems.
Although, she is pretty impressed that he’s strong enough to carry her size
fourteen muffin-topped butt away if he wanted to.

Only Maggie doesn’t want him to. She’s worked hard to make her
life her own. She’s a web designer who makes her own hours, which might be
twenty four hours or until she drops, whichever comes first. She has her own
apartment that might feel and be empty even after living there for four years, so what.
She makes enough to indulge her passion for traveling and she prefers going
alone because then there’s no one to tell her they don’t want to spend hours in a
museum. She has a best friend who keeps her connected to real life and can pull
her away from her laptop, even if it’s just one friend it’s still a friend. She
has a good life, and most days she’s fine with it. She’s been taking care of herself for years
and she doesn’t need anyone’s help.

Okay, maybe just this once, and just until she can walk without
crying. Besides, this is a one-time kind of thing. It’s not every day a nearly one
hundred pound Rottweiler takes off on her without warning. As soon as her right
ankle stops exploding in pain when she steps on it, and her left knee stops
feeling like it’s being poked with a sharp object, she’s out the door.

She’s gone this long by herself, and really, she’s happier that
way... really. Now, if it’s sex he’s after that’s something she’s very willing
to have the doctor’s healing touch for. Besides, it won’t last long, it never
does. So she’ll enjoy it until he comes to his senses and realizes he could do
better.

Because, as far as everything else in her life is concerned, she’s
fine. Really.

Excerpt:

I swallow the last of my orange juice
with a sigh of contentment. His mother is an amazing cook. Eyeing the unopened
bottle of water, I give in. I’m opening it when Nick appears in the doorway.
He’s changed into a simple white dress shirt, open at the neck, that makes his
skin glow, damn, he’s beautiful. A goofy grin comes over me I can’t stop. “Hi.”

He smiles widely. “Hi, I was going to ask
how you’re feeling but something tells me the painkillers have kicked in. Let
me take a look at your ankle.”

“I like the painkillers.” I nod as I
shake the bottle gleefully.

His laughter fills the room. Prying the bottle
slowly from my hand he sets them back on the table. “I can tell. It’s okay to
like them because you need them, for now. In a few days you won’t need as many.
Soon you won’t be taking any painkillers.

Mournfully, I look toward the
painkillers. “You’re right. Taking painkillers when you don’t need them is
naughty. I’m already being naughty.”

“And
how are you being naughty?”

My
eyes go wide, duh, “Um hello, I’m at a hunky guy’s house I don’t know which is
bad enough. Then I can’t stop staring at your dimples. I really, really like
your dimples.”

He
smiles widely, ah those dimples. “Amada, I think I’m going to be as sad as you
will be when you stop taking your painkillers if they’ll always make you this
honest and happy.”

“Hmm…they
make me honest but it’s you that makes me happy.”

Eyes
dark he takes a step toward me with a very intent look. Uh oh. I shift, sending
the tray almost to the floor. Lightning fast reflexes keep the plate and tray
from hitting the floor. He sets them on a long low dresser. Shaking he head he
turns to me, “Mi amada, you could tempt a saint and I am no saint. Let me wrap
your ankle back up.”

Monday, June 29, 2015

Whether you need to see a therapist a psychologist or psychoanalyst and no I have no idea the difference between all of them except the psychologist gives the good drugs.

So I'm back 'home' where I grew up, for the most part-I lived in three different states by the time I was thirteen and that was states not cities-it's where most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins still live. Growing up we were all very close there was trade offs often of one person's kids for the other person so all the children could survive into adulthood and the parents stayed out of jail.

My aunts and uncles grew up with parents who had more kids than money and time in the day to take care of everyone. I have spoken freely of the childhood I had, my mother had never heard of time out, her time out was to explode in anger beat the shit out of the closest kid, sometimes with a hair brush, a shoe, or if worse came to worst her hands. This was not a secret among the aunts and uncles which was why it was rare their kids got left with my mom, although some aunts had hair triggers and smacked their kids around none went as far as my mom. My mother had no filter, no shame, no guilt over the things she did to us, often bragging about how bad it was a few times and other times how quickly she jumped my ass before I knew what was coming. There were even two aunts who invited me to come live with them and although I wanted to say yes so badly I couldn't leave my brothers behind. My mom wasn't just an abusive mother she was extremely neglectful-I was cooking dinner by the time I was seven, with a chair pushed up to the stove.

For my father, he knew but felt there was little he could really do, this was the mid-eighties, aside from paying child support dads were lucky to get weekends with their kids. He also believed my mom was worse with me than my older brother (jealousy-he wondered but wasn't sure) my two young brothers got the least of it because one had asthma and could be sent into an asthma attack from fear alone-she learned a few times emergency rooms asked a lot of questions. The other was the baby and escaped on that alone. So my dad did his best to stay away from my mom and not show me much affection when she was around and no my father was not some pedo or anything like that I think it was just maybe jealousy that my father showed affection for anyone else period.

Anyway childhood until preteens was the kind of hell you hear about but don't actually believe exists The later years were just mindfucking and manipulations that were only half as bad as the beatings. I knew, simply knew that I was going to need help to work through it all and not- you know become a serial killer. From a young age I never questioned I wouldn't make it far in life without help working through all that pain and rage I kept bottled up just to get through every day. I tried a few therapists without much help until I found the guy who saved my life and damn I miss him.

So I'm at a family get together and I'm talking to a cousin and I pop off with some remark about missing my therapist or therapist period and she seems shocked. "You've seen a therapist?"

So, I'm not a quiet person by any stretch of the word, I'm loud and proud or I don't talk at all. She had whispered the question, I responded loud enough I could be heard by anyone within a fifty foot radius without an ounce of shame.

"Uh yeah!" I want to ask how she hasn't because her mom was one of those too, not bad bad, but bad. She shrugs and goes "Huh, I'm just surprised."

"Really? After what I went through? If I had broken my leg I wouldn't have gone to Uncle so and so to get it fixed, I wouldn't have tried to go to a cheap mechanic. Or just shrug it off and say it will heal on its own. I would have gone to a doctor and had it reset or walked with a limp for the rest of my life. My therapist reset my broken mind and my only regret is it took so long to see him. I'm not ashamed of seeing a therapist and maybe if more people did there'd be a little less crazy suppressed by weed, liquor, and people shooting other people in this country, but hey maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.

So is your son still playing football?"

My sister-in-law balks at the idea of talking to a therapist about getting over my nephew's death (he was only 10 months old). She feels it's just a way for people to go whine about their problems and she feels like she's stronger than that. "But didn't you just say you thought if you and my brother had seen a counselor after the baby's death it would have helped you both?" No response for a very long time-until this-"I don't need to pay some person to talk to about my life I have my mom and my best friends and if I'm having problems at work then I have a boss I can talk to." Okay, only her mother hasn't lost a child and neither have her friends and what happens when the problem at work is her boss?

It isn't fair to put your problems on people who aren't equipped to deal with them and you can't always save yourself. Walk with a limp that no one can see or walk tall without hiding from yourself. It's your choice.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

The
curtain goes back and Kayla re-enters. She’s hands him a folder with a smile,
ignoring me completely. “Thanks. Let’s take a look.” With a last squeeze of my
arm he gets off the bed. Going to the wall he pins up the film to a light box then
turns on the light. He studies it intently for what feels like forever.
“Hmm…there’s no break. The only problem is it still looks really bad. I’m going
to recommend you see Dr. Richardson, he’s one of the best orthopedic surgeons
in the city. I’ll give him a call to see when he can get you in.”

“Don’t
you think I can just wait to see how it feels and if it doesn’t feel better
then go see him?” I hate making a fuss, what if the doctor thought I was being
a baby and told me I’d be fine if I lost fifty pounds?

He
studies me like he did the x-ray, intently with eyes determined to see
everything. His words are soft, his tone curious. “You think it’s a good idea
to endure pain for what, a few days, a week before resolving an issue? Instead
of being seen and identifying the problem immediately? How is that a good
thing?”

Can I
please just crawl away to cry in peace? From long years of dealing with my
parents I give in, he won’t know if I never go. “You’re right, thank you. I
appreciate you referring me to him.”

“Maggie,
I haven’t known you very long however I do know when I’m being lied to.” The
words are clipped, they feel like a rap on my knuckles.

Hanging
my head, I shrug. “I’m sorry. I just don’t get what the fuss is about. Yes it
hurts really bad but it just happened. I’m sure in a few days it will go away.
I’ll keep icing it and the pain will go away.”

Sighing,
he shakes his head. “The best thing for it and your ankle is heat not cold. You
said you can take of yourself only it doesn’t sound like you really can. You’re
going to Dr. Richardson if I have to take you myself.”

Resentment
at his interference bubbles up. God, how embarrassing will it be for him to sit
there and listen to the doctor just say I’m fat? It’s not as though he doesn’t
know that, obviously he knows that. I flop back onto the gurney tunring my back
on him. This day is shit, I just want it to be over now. Fuck, I am not crying.
I am because his fingers are wiping away the tears.

“Maggie,
why are you crying?” His breath is close enough I can feel it over my cheek, he
smells of mint and coffee and dark chocolate.

Go
away, just go away I want to yell. I try to roll away from his touch but he
won’t allow it. A hand goes to my chin holding me toward him. I want to scream.
This isn’t fair what he’s doing to me when I barely know him. Desperate for it
to stop the words explode from me. “He’ll just tell me I’m fat and to lose some
weight if I want the pain to go away!”

I can
hear his harsh intake of breath. His grip tightens on my chin. “Look at me damn
it. Open your eyes and look at me.” The words are grated out. His voice has
gone down to almost guttural. “Stop it, right now. Stop thinking of yourself as
fat because you aren’t. You are a beautiful woman who has curves in all the
right places. From a medical standpoint your body is not unhealthy. From the
standpoint of a man, you are sexy as fuck.”

My
eyes fly open, no fucking way. I have no idea I said the words aloud until he
says them back to me.

“Yes,
fucking way. I was attracted to you the first time I saw you. Pickles is
getting an extremely large bone and you a thousand apologies because I can’t
say I’m sorry for what Pickles did, even seeing you in pain can’t make me
sorry. It’s taken three weeks to get up the nerve to approach you. Then you
looked so bored I was losing the confidence to ask you out.”

The
pain has receded completely in my shock. “You
work up the nerve ask me me out? Are
you fucking with me right now?”

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Whether you are a romance/erotica/erotic romance or even doing the chick lit route author, traditionally or self-published, a stay at home mom, working mom, single or in a committed relationship pretty much all women who are having sex or want to have sex on a regular basis-this goes for men too. You really should be writing a thank you note to E.L. James. Say what you will about the quality of writing or lack there of, when I finally read it I will say (this coming from a person quite willing to be a bitch) it wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. It also wasn't nearly as salacious as it was made out to be either.

What can I say I like it dirty.

I didn't read it until last year but I've been saying it for the last few years, the story/writing itself didn't matter so much as the fact that the book opened up the conversation about women and their needs and desires when it comes to sex. In the past women were told they were to submit to their husbands/significant others and hope they didn't take long. While Sex and the City made it okay to not only like sex but spelled out the sex is an integral part of a satisfying relationship. It didn't really go into the bedroom, except Samantha's and said she was a whore for liking and wanting sex on her terms-not really a step in the right direction for women.

Several times I've seen people post stuff and call themselves crazy or weird and I shrug and think, yeah not so much. The 'norm' is a very flexible description for anything in life. Shades took sexual acts, things not considered 'normal' and pulled it out of the dungeon into the daylight. Wait, it's okay to like to be spanked? I can like my sex rough and dirty? I'm not a freak for liking to be tied up? I can actually talk to my partner and tell them what I like and don't like? Not gonna lie the last thing ticks me off the most. If a woman doesn't feel comfortable enough to sit down-outside of the bedroom- and talk not just about birth control but things they do and don't like, favorite sex positions, yes please/no please to nipple play, I like to be tied up, a tap on the ass is fine but anything more and I'll break your hand. Without the comfort level that is there to have that conversation then how can the woman truly be comfortable enough to not just get off but really, really enjoy it? So many women live in their heads-me included-how can they disconnect enough to not worry if they are doing it right or look good (which really men could cared less about BTW) while having sex or worry their man will do something they don't want to just let go and be in the moment and enjoy what's happening?

Ok, maybe the conversations was actually happening but usually with the best friend, sister, or god forbid mother and not the actual sex partner. So Shades opened the door, not just to a lifestyle but for women to see really see sex as an enjoyable, healthy need that they had a real say in. I also liked that it made the guy's needs 'unhealthy' or not important or hey maybe we can split the difference here and it not be a flat no. There can be varying degrees of what a partner wants and needs. With that came the realization it doesn't just end there, and hey I don't actually like someone flogging my ass but there are all these other books out there and I like what's going on in this book, ooh and this book and no fucking way on this book. Say what you will about E.L James and yeah yeah yeah all you erotica writers were here before her and are better writers and she's a one hit wonder-oh no wait three time and now four time. Were the readers looking for you like they are now? Were any erotica writers featured in a newspaper or morning news show before Fifty Shades? The answer is no. Just like there was Sookie Stack House before Twilight and Mercy Thompson before Twilight the attention blew up after a book everyone wants to diss rolled out-no I haven't read it and life is too short to waste that kind of time. (If I wrote vampires and wolf stuff I probably would just to see what the competition looks like. But I don't.)For the writers out there shaking their head and refusing to give James any credit other than getting BDSM all kinds of wrong and I'm an idiot, really? Does your unicorn roam free in your backyard or do you keep him in a stable because you are the delusional one. You don't have to like the bank in order to cash your check there. You do and should give props for it being open and willing to cash your check and those readers who probably hadn't read a book in a year or two took the 50 Shades to number one and were hungry for other books just as salacious just as naughty, dirty, and good. You are cashing their checks.

I wouldn't say I'm an E.L. James fan, I stopped at book two and have no desire to read the recycled Grey out from Chrisitian's POV. This isn't a bet I lost but I do owe her a word of thanks for putting it out there, all out there because without it I wouldn't have put mine out there as erotic romance. They would all have been fade to black Harlequin Presents knockoffs and I love what I'm doing, the stories that I'm sharing and for that, I'm saying thank you.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

I'm running a sale on my entire catalog, all titles are only .99 cents from June 5th until June 14th. This is the first time some of the titles have been on sale and I hate to use the word never but several will probably never be on sale again.

There will also be a Facebook party June 13th and 14th books will be given away as well as Amazon gift cards. Come by and see what you can win: Facebook Party

The winners of the Rafflecopter will be announced on Sunday, enter now it runs until June 13.

Enter to win a $25.00 Amazon gift card and titles from C.E. Black, Christa Tomlinson, Lynn Cooper, Jacintha Topaz, and Angela Snyder. ***It really sucks that THREE people had to be disqualified because they didn't even try entering just entered nonsense onto the verification. Like it was really that hard. Really, really disappointed right now.***